The Life and Chronicles of Neji Uzumaki
by tenneyshoes
Summary: Life carries many challenges, some predictable and some that could never have been forseen. As Naruto and Hinata welcome their second child they are reminded that things never come easy, but more often than not it's the struggle that makes it worth it. Sequel to The Path We Walk.


**Hello my dears! Good news, I am here with a new story, the sequel to The Path We Walk! Bad news, it's not totally written, like The Path We Walk was. Here's the deal. I am struggling. I have been trying too hard to write lately and I just can't seem to do it. I want to get something out for you guys, but I can't seem to find the motivation or will to really write anything. So I am giving you the first chapter of this new story in the hopes that you will review (hopefully with enthusiasm) and I will be able to find my inspiration again. You guys are why I write, and I think if I can get some good feedback I'll be able to pick this up again.**

 **The story is maybe halfway finished right now, and I am considering posting it in (at the moment) three acts. The first will mostly be setting the scene for what is to come. I hope you guys like it.**

 **Really fast, final guest reviews from The Path We Walk! There were a grand total of 75! Reviews for the final chapter, so bear with me!**

 **Guest#1: Thank you, it took a lot of work to finish that story. I am excited about this story and hope I will be able to keep it up! As for the new baby, yeah, sorry, but they get another little boy. Now you get to meet him though!**

 **Guest#2: Thank you! And I know, I kinda jumped the gun announcing baby#2, but I think there are still a few surprises in store for you guys ;)**

 **Mai: Thank you! And yes, the end was kind of (really) fast, but I simply could not drag it out, or it would have been painful.**

 **MexiHinatalover: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the story! I hope you have found this one and will enjoy it just as much!**

 **Haze: No problem! I'm glad you like it!**

 **Naruhinalover: Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it! I know what you mean, Naruto is freaking amazing!**

 **Anonymous: When you say another story like this one, I'm not sure what you mean. Another amnesia story, or another good story? I suppose I could do another amnesia one (check out Easier for Me, it's basically TPWW, but if Hinata lost her memory) but whether I can make another good one is based solely on your opinion. Although I hope this one delivers!**

 **Guest#3: Thank you so much! I will do my best!**

 **Misha: Thank you! I wanted to put in more interaction, but ultimately the story was about Naruto and Hinata and anything I tried to work in the Rookies more just came out as forced. Maybe I'll be able to get them in this one a bit more, but I am not sure.**

 **Guest#4: Five times!? Are you kidding? Thank you!**

 **Guest#5: Thank you, I couldn't find who it was or which president it was. I am honored that you loved my story! And that you like Sparks! As for when you're going to see the next Uzumaki, Right here! I hope he doesn't disappoint.**

 **Anon123: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and that I could help you out with the language a little!**

 **Fwew! That's all. Without further ado, I give you-**

 **The Life and Chronicles of Neji Uzumaki**

 **XXX**

His name was almost like a sick joke when they found out.

Neji was blind. The child gifted with the name of a man that had wielded one of the most powerful Byakugan the Clan had ever seen _was blind._

They hadn't realized at first. He was a happy baby who rarely cried, like his older brother had been, if a bit more reserved. He took after his mother, both in coloring and temperament, portraying the perfect image of a Hyuga. His hair was dark, his skin light, and the pale white eyes of the Hyuga were the first things people noticed about him. Followed immediately by his wide gummy smile.

He slept a lot, much to Jiraiya's disappointment. He wanted to play with his new brother all day long, but Mama said he would have to wait until Neji was older. Jiraiya had already waited! But what Mama said the rules were, he and Papa had to obey. So he tried to be patient as the days passed and he watched his baby brother closely over his mother's shoulder.

Hinata was the one that realized something was wrong. It hadn't been immediately apparent because of his unique eyes. Blindness was hard to spot in the all-seeing eyes of a Hyuga. They wouldn't have even known as soon as they did if it wasn't for Jiraiya. Hinata and her new baby were scheduled to be discharged from the hospital that afternoon after a cautious two days in the maternity ward and she and Jiraiya were sitting on the bed with Neji as Naruto busied himself with collecting their various belongings strewn about the room.

Hinata was smiling down at her new little boy, each of her thumbs wrapped in his tiny fists as she cooed and tickled his belly with her nose. This was the longest he had been awake since he had been born and Hinata was taking the opportunity to play with him. Jiraiya was watching closely. He had been told he would have to be very, very careful with his new brother and, so far, the warning had cautioned him against getting too close. Like his father, Jiraiya had a tendency to break things. However, as he watched his mother play with the new baby, he couldn't hold himself back any more. He had been waiting for forever to play with Baby Neji! Making sure to move very, very carefully, as he had been told, Jiraiya reached out and gently poked Neji's rosy little cheek with his finger.

The baby jumped just a little bit, as if startled, his head rolling toward Jiraiya's hand, but Hinata noticed his eyes never moved. They continued to stare straight ahead of him, big and white and, just maybe, unfocused. Jiraiya was laughing now, delighted he hadn't broken his new brother but instead earned a slobbery smile and softly rubbed Neji's wispy dark hair.

"It's like yours, Mama," he announced cheerfully. Hinata absently hummed agreement, staring closely at Neji's eyes, but they never changed. Thinking back, she realized that Neji's eyes never focused on anything. When Jiraiya had been born, his big blue eyes had never stopped moving, taking in all the bright colors and sights of his big new world. Every new noise drew his eyes, every new face he found brought a big smile to his face.

It wasn't that Neji didn't smile. In fact, everyone that had held him up to that point commented on his big gummy smile, the only recognizable feature that tied him to Naruto. But thinking back, Hinata realized Neji never smiled when a new face was placed before him as Jiraiya had. In fact, he didn't react at all until he heard something, usually a new voice cooing or babbling at him.

Naruto had just finished packing one of the bags and dropped it on the tiled floor with a loud thump. Neji's tiny body jolted in surprise and his head swiveled around as best a newborn could, not so his eyes were to the sound, but so his ear was in the direct line. Holding her finger up, Hinata waved it in front of Neji's eyes carefully, first slow, then faster and faster, trying to grab the newborn's attention. Neji didn't move at all. Jiraiya, on the other hand, watched her finger closely before giving his mother a weird look.

"What 'er you doin', Mama?" His eyebrow was raised in an expression similar to one Naruto always assumed when he was confused, and his little nose scrunched up a bit.

"Don't worry, Froggy," she said absently and watched Neji closely. Holding her breath and biting her lip, Hinata snapped her fingers right in front of Neji's nose. The baby jumped again, just as he had when Naruto had dropped the bag unexpectedly, and his head swiveled around until his ear was placed right under where Hinata had snapped. She repeated this a few more times, her dread growing, snapping in random places, and each time instead of moving his eyes, as a normal baby would have, to see what had made the new sound, Neji rolled his head around as best he could to place his ear closest to the sound.

"Naruto!" Hinata called, breathlessly, panic constricting around her heart, her eyes never leaving her baby. Naruto immediately heard the panic in her voice and dropped the bag he had been packing, Neji's head once again moving to place his ear toward the sound, and moved to Hinata's side.

"What is it, Hime?" Naruto asked gently. His hand pressed into her back, rubbing in smooth circles and Hinata soaked up his calm presence.

She shook her head, unsure of how to explain, and feeling so helpless. "I-I don't know, but something is _wrong_."

"What?!" Jiraiya was staring up at his mother with wide horrified eyes. "What's wrong with baby Neji?!"

Naruto acted fast. If Hinata said something was wrong, he wasn't about to doubt her, but they didn't need to add a panicked toddler to whatever was going on. He scooped up Jiraiya and quickly headed for the door. "I'll go find Sakura or Granny. I'll be right back, Hinata."

XXX

It seemed like forever before Naruto finally returned, now empty armed with Tsunade in tow. The Hokage briskly crossed from the door to mother and child and began inspecting the baby.

"What's going on, Hinata?" she asked calmly, her sure presence reassuring Hinata. Tsunade was the best medical shinobi to ever walk the earth. Her baby would be ok.

"I-I…" she could hardly get the words out and she bit her lip hard, trying to get her tongue back under control. Now was not the time to fall on old habits. Naruto grabbed her hand firmly and his reassuring touch helped. Taking a calming breath, Hinata tried again. "I don't know. He's acting strange-"

"Strange, how?" Tsunade asked crisply, still absorbed in taking various vital signs.

"His eyes…" A painful lump formed in Hinata's throat. She didn't even want to put her fear into words. "There's something wrong with his eyes."

Tsunade immediately pulled a small flashlight from a pocket and began flicking it into the baby's eyes. He didn't react at all. Tsunade continued her seemingly random tests, her frown growing more prominent as the minutes ticked by. Finally she put away the little flashlight and gently lifted Neji into her arms.

"I'm going to take him for some tests."

Hinata's gut clenched painfully, but Naruto was the one that protested. "What? _Why_? What's wrong with our son?"

"I'm not sure, Naruto, that's why I need to run the tests," Tsunade snapped back. "I have a few ideas, but I want to be sure before I make any decisions. I know that you're worried and that this is difficult, but I'm going to do everything I can." Tsunade eyed the young couple carefully for a moment, looking for any form of dissent before she nodded decisively. "I'll keep you informed, and you'll know as soon as I find out anything." With her promise made, the Hokage swept out of the room, taking Neji with her.

An oppressive silence settled on the room, crushing them. Hinata felt like she was suffocating.

"He's blind," she whispered, shaking her head helplessly.

"What?" Naruto's entire body had gone rigid beside her and he sounded like the wind had been knocked out of his lungs. Belatedly, Hinata realized she had spoken aloud. She hadn't meant to but the silence had proved to be too much. She had felt like she was suffocating and speaking her fears had helped, if only a little. But Naruto was waiting for an explanation now, and she forced herself to continue.

"His eyes… His eyes don't react… to anything."

"We don't know that," Naruto replied, his infamous stubbornness asserting itself. His hand began to rub circles on her back again. "We need to wait for Granny to get her test results back." She nodded and Naruto laced his fingers through hers as he smoothed down her hair.

"Where is Jiraiya?" She needed something else to focus on and the absence of her elder son seemed as good a distraction as any.

"The cafeteria. I sent him to get ice cream with a clone. I figured we'd be able to figure out what is going on easier without him under foot. He wouldn't stop asking questions."

"What did you tell him?" Hinata realized she was squeezing Naruto's hand, hard, and she forced her fingers to relax. She tried to pull her hand away, untangling their fingers, but he didn't let her, his fingers once again lacing between hers firmly.

"I just said Neji needed to have more baby tests." Hinata knew he was worried but she took strength from his calm demeanor. When it had come to crisis in the past, Hinata had always been able to look to Naruto for support and she was grateful to have him by her side now.

Silence descended between the pair. Hinata couldn't keep her eyes away from the clock on the wall by the door, watching as the hands slowly turned, each passing minute feeling like several. After nearly an hour, Naruto's clone popped and proxy memories poured into his mind. Sasuke had encountered Jiraiya and Naruto's clone on the bench in front of the hospital. With a quick exchange of words, the clone had filled the Uchiha in on what they knew of the situation and Sasuke had taken Jiraiya, promising to watch the toddler until Naruto and Hinata could come get him. Naruto passed the message on to Hinata. She sighed in relief but her eyes never left the clock.

It was dark by the time Tsunade returned, little Neji fidgeting restlessly in her arms. Her face was grim and it was all the confirmation Naruto needed. Hinata was rarely wrong when it came to hunches but as the hours had passed he had prayed that for once, she would be. His hopes were dashed the moment the Hokage stepped through the door.

She passed the unhappy baby to his mother gently as she spoke. "He's hungry. You need to nurse him. I don't want to get into any of this until you're done." Naruto watched as his wife chewed the inside of her cheek, trying her hardest not to demand answers. "I'll be back in about an hour. We'll talk then." And before either of them could stop her, Tsunade left the room.

Naruto watched silently as Hinata looked down at their son and fought back the tears swimming in her eyes.

"Can you hold him for a minute?" she asked, her voice shaking, as she held the crying baby out to him. Naruto stepped forward without hesitation and gently cradled Neji to his chest. He murmured to the baby quietly, trying to calm the upset infant as Hinata pulled her shirt over her head and settled in to nurse. When she was ready, Naruto handed the baby back and perched on the edge of the bed to watch.

Despite the situation looming over their heads, and the news they both knew Tsunade would share with them in an hour, Naruto found there was something undeniably calming about watching his wife nurse their baby.

Normally, a topless Hinata would have him so riled up and aroused he couldn't think straight. But he had found there was something profoundly different when she was topless for him verses when she was nursing. Both were incredibly personal, but in different ways. When Jiraiya had been born, Naruto had been fascinated by the entire concept of breastfeeding, simply because it was something new and interesting. It was also an intimate moment between mother and child that Naruto had never been able to experience. Granted, even if he had he wouldn't remember it, but the idea was the same. So when it came time for Hinata to feed their son, he had watched, transfixed by the sheer intimacy of it. It was so undeniably pure and natural that it touched Naruto in a way he had never imagined before and he wanted to be a part of it somehow.

When they had brought Jiraiya home and he needed to be fed Naruto would always offer to get him, even in the middle of the night. He would lay in bed beside Hinata and watch as she nursed and it was in those moments that Naruto _knew_ without a single solitary doubt that there would always be good in the world.

There wasn't anything creepy or sexual about it. Naruto simply enjoyed witnessing the pure innocence that was the bond between mother and child, and with the uncertainty looming before him, he drew strength from it.

Neji did not usually have a problem eating. Like his brother and his father, he had an incredible appetite and Hinata hadn't had any trouble nursing him until now. Naruto wondered if he could perhaps sense his mother's anxiety because he absolutely refused to latch on to Hinata, pushing against her with his little uncoordinated arms and turning his head away as he fidgeted restlessly. Hinata grew increasingly upset as time passed and after nearly ten minutes she gave a frustrated, defeated groan and stopped trying.

"Why won't he eat?" she cried, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. Neji began crying even louder as he lay on her lap and Hinata buried her face in her hands, her fingers knotting into her bangs as the heels of her palms dug into her eyes, trying to stop the tears.

"You need to relax, Hinata," Naruto told her softly, gently trying to pull her hands from her face.

"Relax? How am I supposed to relax, Naruto?" she asked desperately. He had succeeded in uncovering her face, but she looked to him now, frantic and distressed, expecting him to have some answer.

"He's still our son. He's still our Neji, nothing's changed that. He may not be able to see, but he's still the little baby we've been waiting months for, the same little baby you carried and delivered. _Nothing_ is going to change that. We'll take care of him, and he'll grow up, and he'll be happy. I know it's hard now, but everything will be ok." Naruto watched her carefully, staring into her stunningly beautiful eyes, trying to make her believe his words through his eyes.

Hinata was quiet at first, her eyes searching his face just as intently as he was watching her. "How can you know that?" she finally asked. "How can you know he'll be ok?"

"Because he's got us, the greatest parents in the entire world! Besides, it's not like being blind is going to stop him. You've been blind before and it's never slowed _you_ down." He was referring to the few times she had overused her Byakugan and strained her eyes to a dangerous limit. To recover, her eyes needed to rest and she had been forced to go for days blindfolded, unable to see anything. And Naruto was right, it hadn't stopped Hinata at all.

The initial surprise and panic upon discovering that their child was not whole had begun to fade, especially now that Neji was back in Hinata's arms. He had been blind for three days now and he was still fine. Naruto simply had to believe that Neji would be all right and that he and Hinata would do everything in their power to keep him safe. He willed Hinata to share that conviction.

She stared at him for another moment before making a decision. Gently, she lifted the crying infant from her lap and laid him against her shoulder, rocking side to side and rubbing his back to sooth him and slowly, his cries became whimpers that slowly turned to hiccups as he calmed down. Hinata glanced at Naruto nervously, biting her lip, before lowering her baby to her breast and trying again. Now that both mother and child were calm, Neji latched on without a problem and began to nurse eagerly. Hinata released a deep breath and gave Naruto a small relieved smile which was returned readily.

"See? Told ya, you just had to relax." Naruto smoothed down her silky hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead. After a time, Neji fell asleep and Naruto took him to burp him before laying him in his bassinet. He sent a clone to fetch Tsunade and returned to the bed, gently taking his wife's hand.

Hinata stiffened when Tsunade stepped through the door and Naruto squeezed her hand, trying to offer comfort.

Tsunade met their eyes for a moment and then dived in.

"Your son is blind." The Godaime Hokage had never been one to mince words and Naruto wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse now as she confirmed Hinata's suspicions without any preamble. Hinata wilted beside him, her shoulders dropping and her spine curving forward as she curled in on herself. He wrapped his arm around her and turned back to Tsunade.

"Why?"

Tsunade sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Hinata was pregnant with Neji, about eleven weeks, when she was shot by an arrow and held captive for several hours. During that time she sustained a large amount of blood loss, as well as severe fatigue and stress. It's a miracle he survived at all. Her body reverted to a survival mode, pulling most of her reserves from nurturing the baby to helping her survive. That, in addition to the weeks after when she healed had more of an effect on the child than we originally thought."

"What effect?" Naruto bit out. He was trying to be calm and patient and listen to Tsunade, but it was hard when his wife was trying desperately to keep from falling apart and he was being told that the week that had nearly destroyed his life was still affecting them. It was hard to remain calm when he was being told his son would never see his face, even with his previous conviction.

"Hinata was still in a heavily developmental stage of her pregnancy at the time," Tsunade explained. If she was annoyed with Naruto's short temper she didn't show it. "Because her body was focusing more on keeping her alive and getting her back to a point where she was capable of nurturing the growing child, Neji's development was stunted a little. When Hinata's health returned, Neji's development picked up where it should have been rather than where it actually was.

"His optic nerves are severely underdeveloped. They connect to the brain, but only just barely. There isn't a strong enough connection to transfer the images that go into his eyes to his brain. As of right now, we don't have a treatment for this sort of thing. If it was cataracts we could operate, but this particular situation is rare and there hasn't been enough research to find a fix for it."

"How did we miss this?" Hinata's voice was brittle but she sat up, looking to the Hokage.

Tsunade grimaced at her question but explained succinctly. "We normally run extensive tests when a baby is born to make sure all of their senses are present and functioning. We ran most of those tests on Neji, but there has been research done that proves that the normal vision tests can cause problems for those with the Byakugan later in life. It stunts the development of the kekkei genkai, so we forgoed those tests. We checked for cataracts and none were present so we figured everything was all right. I didn't want to risk his Byakugan. I suppose it wouldn't have made a difference now, but I was trying to error on the side of caution. I'm sorry, Hinata."

Hinata shook her head, waiving away Tsunade's apology in favor of another question. "So what do we do?"

"You raise your son. He's not dead, Hinata. You still have him. Yes, things will be different than they were with Jiraiya, and certainly there will be challenges, but he's not so crippled that he can't live a normal life. I know it's unheard of in the Hyuga Clan, but blindness isn't actually all that uncommon. Neji can still live a normal life if you are willing to help him."

"Of course we're going to help him." Naruto answered firmly squeezing the arm he had wrapped around Hinata's shoulders. Trying to offer his wife his strength, Naruto pressed a kiss to Hinata's temple and squeezed her limp hand. She didn't react.

XXX

"I'm a terrible mother."

Naruto looked up from Neji. Hinata was across the room, curled up on her side with her back to him as she stared out the window, just as she had been since Tsunade had left them hours ago. He couldn't see her face, but there was an unnatural stillness and stiffness in the way she held her body and her voice sounded…dead.

"What are you talking about?" he asked quietly, wary of waking Neji. He thought she was ok. He had thought after she had calmed and Neji had finally allowed himself to be fed, that she was ok. He was sure that once the shock of Tsunade's confirmation had worn off she would be all right. Apparently, he had been wrong.

"I shouldn't be his mother. Or Jiraiya's. I don't deserve to be a mother." Her voice was flat, unlike anything he had ever heard. Naruto was familiar with the infamous Hyuga monotone, and his best friend wouldn't put inflection into his words to save his life, but this was different. Something was truly wrong. One of Hinata's greatest ambitions was to be a mother. There simply was no containing her joy when she had first discovered she was pregnant with Jiraiya, and even with the events surrounding the announcement of her second pregnancy, Hinata had been absolutely over the moon with excitement. The woman had been born to be a mother, and she excelled at it effortlessly. So why was she denying all of that now?

"Hinata. What are you saying?" he asked firmly. She didn't answer, didn't respond to his question in any way. A tight knot of dread began to form in his gut and Naruto very gently set his son down in the bassinet beside his chair. He walked around the foot of the bed to look at his wife and found he had been wrong. She wasn't staring out the window. She wasn't staring at anything. Her pearly eyes were unfocused and looked almost gray.

"Hinata." Again, she didn't respond and he firmly took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. Sluggishly, her eyes met his, but no more. "Why would you say that?" he demanded, his temper beginning to spark. What the hell was wrong with her? After learning of Neji's blindness, Naruto didn't know if he could deal with more trouble today. His nerves were completely shot and his emotions were almost spent.

"You are in incredible mother. Jiraiya loves you more than anyone in the world. You would do _anything_ for our boys, why on earth would you say you don't deserve to be a mother?-"

"Because I'm glad." Her voice was small, but something resembling his Hinata had returned to her eyes, a familiar rebellious spark that had given her the courage to face down men who could have been gods without flinching. Despite recognizing something that gave him a small margin of hope, he didn't understand what she meant.

"You're glad about what?" Hinata abruptly sat up, startling Naruto, and rolled away from him to the other side of the bed. She stood, her back to him, and slowly crossed to Neji's cradle. Her arms were crossed tightly over her stomach and Naruto could see that her fingers were digging into her sides as if she was trying to hold herself together as she stared down at the sleeping infant.

"I'm glad he's blind." She spoke so quietly Naruto almost didn't hear her. Her words didn't compute at first. They simply _did not_ make sense. She had been so upset and worried when she had first discovered something was wrong and now she was glad? He couldn't keep up.

"Hinata, I don't understa-"

"I'm _glad_ he is _blind_ , Naruto!" She spun around to face him so fast her hair flared around her and belatedly Naruto realized she was angry at him. It was not a situation he was familiar with. In her anger she had raised her voice and disturbed Neji. The infant began ti whimper quietly and Hinata rounded immediately, reaching out to lift him up before stopping herself. She paused a moment, suspended, her hands already stretched halfway toward her baby before slowly, she withdrew. Her arms wrapped around her torso instead and she turned from the upset child.

Her face was twisted into a terrible expression he had never seen before, somewhere between fury and sorrow all covered by a shadow of self-loathing. "It's all I can think about. Lady Tsunade confirmed it and I felt like the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I'm glad our son is _blind_. Do you understand now?" she murmured so quietly he had to strain to hear and she seemed to wilt into herself. Neji still whimpered and his cries seemed to cause her physical pain. "What kind of _mother_ is _glad_ that her child is blind?! Do you have any idea how wrong that is?" Tears poured down Hinata's face as she turned to staring longingly at her baby over her shoulder. A frustrated growl ripped from her throat and she jerked back around, frantically wiping at the tears.

"Hinata…" Naruto didn't know what to say. How did one answer a question like that? Was she honestly saying she didn't want this, him, their sons, any of it, anymore? After all they had been through already, all of the storms they had weathered together, Naruto didn't think he would survive Hinata leaving him. She was his strength, his foundation. She was everything to him.

"I'm sorry, I just…" she began before choking off her words. Very slowly, Hinata raised her eyes to his and Naruto saw shame and regret swimming in them. "He won't be a shinobi. He _can't_ be a shinobi now. And I can't tell you how _happy_ that makes me. He won't get hurt. He'll never have to learn to kill another person. He won't ever have to go to _war_. He'll never have to experience the horrors that we have."

Understanding dawned on Naruto with all the finesse and delicacy of a chidori. He surged toward Hinata, leaping straight over the bed and gathered her in his arms, holding her so tightly he vaguely wondered if she could still breathe.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," he murmured fiercely into her hair and her arms returned his fierce hug with equal force as she broke down, sobbing into his shoulder. "Hinata, it's not wrong to want him to be safe. It's not wrong to want to protect him. He's our _son_ , it's our _job_ to make sure he's happy. The fact that you worry so much for him proves how much you love him and how perfectly you were made to be a mother." She didn't answer him but her head shook from side to side, denying his words as her fingers fisted in the back of his shirt holding him to her like a lifeline. Her entire body was trembling and he held her tighter, pressing a kiss into her hair.

"Hinata, you haven't done anything wrong," Naruto soothed, petting her hair. "You love Neji and you just want him to be safe and happy. You're right, he doesn't have to be a shinobi. He doesn't have to learn to fight any more than Jiraiya does. And Jiraiya is not any more obligated to follow in our footsteps than Neji, just because he can see. If Jiraiya one day decides he wants to be a shinobi, we will prepare him as best we can, and he'll be fine. If he decides he wants to work at Ichiraku's for the rest of his life, you're going to teach him all of your best recipes and I'm going to eat every single noodle he makes.

"And if Neji wants to become a shinobi, nothing in hell is going to stop him. Not you, not me, and not even his eyes."

"But Naruto-" she argued but he cut her off.

"No, Hinata. He's the son of two of the most hard-headed, dedicated, driven, talented shinobi Konoha has ever seen. Do you really think something could stop him from achieving a dream?" His hands smoothed up and down her back, trying to calm her. "You're probably right. The chances of him becoming a shinobi aren't that high, but it has nothing to do with him. The world is changing. People have begun to value peace over grudges and revenge. There will always be a need for shinobi as long as there are evil men, but we don't have to train children to fight wars anymore. The important thing is that we are there for him when he needs us."

Hinata looked up to him, her pale eyes still swimming in tears. "Everything's going to be ok," he promised, trying to ignore how much he was trying to convince himself as well as her. However unconfident he felt, it seemed to help Hinata and she stood a little straighter, still embracing him fiercely, like a lifeline. As gently as he could, Naruto turned Hinata and guided her to the small bassinet. Neji squirmed in his blanket, his face pinched angrily as he fussed. Naruto prompted Hinata, gently nudging her arm and hesitantly, Hinata stretched out a hand and laid it against Neji's belly.

He huffed a few more times, but calmed almost instantly under his mother's touch. Naruto pressed a relieved smile into Hinata's hair. "See?" he asked softly.

"He needs his Mama, and he knows who she is. As long as you're around, 'Nata, he's going to be just fine."

 **XXX**

 **All right, my dears, you know the drill! Feedback time! Give me your thoughts, good and bad. What do you think of little Neji? What about his blindness? What are your thoughts on Hinata's reaction? Is she handling it good or bad, in your opinion, but ultimately is it realistic? Are they in character? Lay it on me!**

 **With all of my love, and as always**

 **Happy Reading!**

 **Tennyeshoes**


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